Helen Zille, premier of the province, told a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday that the 25-member delegation from the province that she headed, was exploring the prospects of entering into joint venture deals for increasing food exports to this part of the world. "The province has been exporting food and foodstuffs to the Kingdom, but much more can be done given the size and the population of this country," she said.
The Western Cape is roughly the size of Greece and is the country's fourth-largest province. It accounts for 45 percent of all of South Africa's exports and is one of the country's most fertile region in terms of land. It is rich in grains, food products and aqua culture in particular. Being a beautiful region, it also attracts a large number of foreign tourists. It is a region of mountains, colorful patchworks of farmland set in valleys, long beaches and the wide-open landscape of the semidesert Karoo.
The southern coastal area is also fertile, while fishing is the most important industry along the west coast. Sheep farming is the mainstay of the Karoo, and other forms of husbandry take place in the better-watered parts of the province.
JCCI's Vice Chairman Lama Sulaiman said the two countries could promote mutual interest in expanding trade and investment in food, water, fishing and aquaculture in particular. "We produce a generous amount of shrimps and most of them are exported, Japan being a major importing nation," she said, adding that the chamber would facilitate the visiting delegation in finding their right local business partners.
The delegation, organized by the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency of South Africa, included exporters related to fruit, canned fruit and vegetables, fishing and horticultural industries, banking, fund management, trade finance and insurance, electronics, fashion retail industry, mining, agricultural equipment and energy industry.
